1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention is directed to seats for a vehicle. More specifically, it is directed to foldable rear seats for use in a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
In many sporting vehicles, rear seats have been designed to fold up in order to increase cargo carrying capacity in the vehicle. In some cases complete rear seats fold down, and some cases the seats are split. Seats may be split in a 50/50 arrangement or a 60/40 arrangement. Often when rear seats fold down, the seat bottom, hinged at its lower forward portion, folds forward and the seat back, hinged at the lower portion thereof, also folds forward to have a flat, or sometimes not so flat, cargo area.
When conventional rear seats are folded forward, as described above, sometimes they do not, in fact, provide a flat cargo area. Furthermore, often when dirty cargo is carried, the seats which are folded away have also become dirty from the cargo.
These and other problems described above have been overcome by the rear seats in accordance with the instant invention, as described below.
The seats in accordance with the instant invention are generally for use in a sporting vehicle and may be described as action seats. In the present market, many vehicles are tailored for active buyers. Such active buyers are taking part in activities such as mountain biking, hiking, camping, and many other activities that require hauling equipment, bicycles, and other bulky activity related items. Thus, the action seats, in accordance with the instant invention, provide a great deal of flexibility for different configurations of seating and cargo carrying arrangements.
The subject seats enable three different seating/cargo configurations to be obtained. An open state allows the seats to be used by passengers. In the open state, the seats are angled slightly outwardly with regard to the centerline of the vehicle, in order to allow passengers to more easily view the outside of the car rather than just the seat backs ahead of them. This reduces the claustrophobic type of feelings that passengers may have. The seats have mesh-like fabric inserts in order to allow greater air flow and thus to enable more comfort for the occupants. Further, the construction of these seats enable them to be very light weight and easy to move. That means that they are easy to fold up into a folded state or to open into the open state. This is in contrast to many automobile seats which are very heavy and, thus, very difficult to fold up or to open.
In the first folded state (or central stowed position), the outer shells of the seat bottoms close up to form a clam-shell type of protection for the seats folded up therein. This clam-shell protection helps the seats themselves to stay cleaner and free of damage due to cargo carried in the rear portion of the vehicle.
Therefore, a foldable rear seat for a vehicle in accordance with the instant invention includes a support stub fixed to the vehicle and an elongated support arm pivotable about the support stub and having a second end, remote from the first end. A seat bottom is operatively connected to and pivotable about the second end of the support arm so that the seat bottom is pivotable between a vertical folded position and a horizontal open position. Furthermore, a seat back is operatively connected to the seat bottom and is pivotable about an axis at a rear portion of the seat bottom in order to easily fold into the seat bottom. Thus, the rear seat described above is easily configurable into an open state for use as a seat, and two folded states. The first folded state is one in which the seat bottoms are folded up into a folded state and are disposed next to one another in a central stowed position. The second folded state provides for the individual folded seat to be stowed laterally with respect to the centerline of the vehicle.
The seats in accordance with the instant invention work together best as a pair. When paired up with one another, in the first folded state, the outer shell of each seat cooperates together to form a clam-shell type structure that protects the folded up seats inside.